Anderson, Emily
Anderson, Emily (1891–1962), academic, civil servant, and translator, was born 17 March 1891 at Taylor's Hill, Galway, second daughter of Alexander Anderson (qv), professor of natural philosophy and later president of…...
Boyse, Samuel
Boyse, Samuel (1708–49), poet, translator, and hack writer, was born in Dublin in 1708, son of the Rev. Joseph Boyse (qv), the English-born presbyterian theologian, pamphleteer, and minister to the Wood St. church, Dublin. Educated…...
Bruce, William
Bruce, William (1790–1868), presbyterian minister and classicist, was born in Belfast on 16 November 1790, the second son of William Bruce (qv) (1757–1841), presbyterian minister, and his wife, Susannah (née Hutton). After a schooling…...
Cameron, Charles
Cameron, Charles (1841–1924), politician, newspaper proprietor and medical doctor, was born in Dublin on 18 December 1841, the son of John Cameron, newspaper proprietor, and his wife Ellen (née Galloway). John Cameron founded the Glasgow North British Daily Mail – subsequently…...
Clare, Anthony Ward
Clare, Anthony Ward (1942–2007), psychiatrist and media personality, was born 24 December 1942 in Dublin, the youngest of three children (two girls and a boy) of Bernard Clare, state solicitor with the land registry, and his wife Agnes (née Dunne). Clare recalled his father as a gentle…...
Cowan, (Robert) Barry
Cowan, (Robert) Barry (1948–2004), journalist and broadcaster, was born 1 February 1948 in Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, one of two sons of Fred Cowan, a manager in the Ulster Transport Authority, and his wife Myrtle (née Gilliland Patterson). Barry was brought up a presbyterian. The…...
Crofton, Sir John Wenman
Crofton, Sir John Wenman (1912–2009), physician, scientist and public health campaigner, was born on 27 March 1912 at the family home, 55 Merrion Square South, Dublin, the only son (between two sisters) of William Mervyn Crofton, physician and bacteriologist, and his wife Mary…...
Davidson, Samuel
Davidson, Samuel (1806–98), biblical scholar, was born probably in September 1806 in Kellswater, Co. Antrim, son of Abraham Davidson, farmer, and Margaret Davidson (née Mewha), who had at least one other child, a daughter. Samuel attended a local school, for whose master, James…...
Dill, Sir Samuel
Dill, Sir Samuel (1844–1924), classical scholar, historian, and educationalist, was born 26 March 1844 at Hillsborough, Co. Down, eldest son of the Rev. Marcus Dill, DD, presbyterian minister of Hillsborough, and Anna Dill (née Moreland). He…...
Driscol, Denis
Driscol, Denis (1762–1811), newspaper proprietor and radical, was born in Co. Cork. Little is known about his parentage and details of his early career are sparse, but he was born into a catholic family wealthy enough to provide him with an education on the continent. Having…...
Duncan, George Alexander
Duncan, George Alexander (1902–2006), economist, was born 15 May 1902 in the family home in Bridge Street, Ballymena, Co. Antrim, the second son of Alexander Duncan, a physician and surgeon, and his wife Elizabeth (née Linn). He was educated at Ballymena Academy and Campbell College…...
Dwyer, Bernie
Dwyer, Bernie (1943–2013), journalist, filmmaker and political activist, was born in Dublin on 14 December 1943 to Mary (née Fagan) and Arthur Hannon , a clerk at Dublin Corporation. She spent her early childhood in Drimnagh, before the family moved to Sutton, Co. Dublin. She left…...
Fallon, Padraic
Fallon, Padraic (1946–2012), journalist and businessman, was born on 21 September 1946 in the County Hospital, Wexford, the youngest of six sons of Padraic Fallon (qv), a poet, playwright and customs official of Rowe Street, Wexford, and his…...
Fox, Richard Michael ('R. M. ')
Fox, Richard Michael ('R. M. ') (1891–1969), writer and trade unionist, was born on 13 November 1891 in Leeds, Yorkshire, the second of four sons of Richard Fox and his wife Elizabeth (née Rathmell). Richard senior worked as a gymnasium instructor in Leeds, and later as a skilled…...
Haddick, Victor Anderson
Haddick, Victor Anderson (1887–1950), soldier, traveller, writer, and film maker and promoter, was born 14 June 1887 at Crinkill (Crinkle), Parsonstown (Birr), King's Co. (Offaly), the eldest son of Richard J. Haddick, a soldier, and his wife Jane Anne (née Anderson). He was educated…...
Halliday, Fred (Simon Frederick Peter)
Halliday, Fred (Simon Frederick Peter) (1946–2009), academic, writer and public intellectual, was born on 22 February 1946 in Dublin, the youngest of three sons of Arthur Halliday, a quaker shoe manufacturer, and Margaret Mary 'Rita' Halliday (née Finigan), of Dundalk. He was educated…...
Hincks, Sir Francis
Hincks, Sir Francis (c.1807–85), businessman, journalist, politician, and colonial administrator, was born 14 December 1807 in Cork, the youngest of nine children of the Reverend Thomas Dix Hincks (qv), presbyterian…...
Holland, Mary Philomena
Holland, Mary Philomena (1935–2004), journalist, was born 19 June 1935 in Dover, Kent, youngest of three children (two sons and one daughter) of Patrick Henry Holland, civil engineer and later civil servant, and his wife Margaret (née Callanan). Both sides of the family originated in…...
Houlihan, Con
Houlihan, Con (1925–2012), sportswriter, was born on 6 December 1925 in Reineen, near Castleisland, Co. Kerry, the middle child among two boys and a girl of Michael Houlihan and his wife Ellen ('Nell') (née Cronin). His parents farmed a small holding (about five acres of arable land),…...
Ireland, Denis Liddell
Ireland, Denis Liddell (1894–1974), journalist, writer, and senator, was born 29 July 1894 in Belfast, son of Adam Liddell Ireland, linen manufacturer, of Lurgan, Co. Armagh, and Isabella Ireland (née McHinch). He was educated at …...
Joy, Henry, jnr
Joy, Henry, jnr (1754–1835), newspaper proprietor and local politician, born 17 October 1754 at Belfast, was the eldest of the three sons of Robert Joy (qv), textile manufacturer and his wife, Grizell (née Rainey) of Magherafelt, Co.…...
Kidd, James
Kidd, James (1761–1834), presbyterian minister and Hebraist, was born 6 November 1761 in Loughbrickland, Co. Down, youngest of three sons of impoverished parents, who may have been William Kidd and Agnes Kidd (née Allan). When his father died a few months after James was born, his…...
Killen, James Bryce
Killen, James Bryce (1842–1916), barrister, journalist, and radical, was born 14 August 1842 in Kells, Co. Antrim, into a presbyterian family, the fourth son of Samuel Killen and his wife, Mary Jane (Mabel) Shaw. Educated at the RBAI…...
Lennon, Peter Gerard
Lennon, Peter Gerard (1930–2011), journalist, documentary film-maker and social critic, was born on 28 February 1930 at 30 North Frederick Street, Dublin, the eldest of three sons of Peter Joseph Lennon and his wife Delia (née Fenton). His mother was a former post office worker…...
Lynn, Robert John
Lynn, Robert John (1873–1945), unionist politician and journalist, was born near Bushmills, Co. Antrim, the son of a small farmer. Following his education at a local national school and further private tuition, in 1893 he began his journalistic career, first working in Derry and…...